


a love so ordered

by AvaRosier



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: In celebration of today's SCOTUS ruling about marriage equality, Multi, don't read if you don't want cavities, so much sap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 10:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4217574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaRosier/pseuds/AvaRosier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On June 26th, 2015, three couples hear something on the news they hadn't expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a love so ordered

**Author's Note:**

> FYI: the Hebrew line came from a het marriage ceremony so I'm not sure if the pronoun/genders line up...

It had been a spur of the moment thing.

Except not really. They’d talked about marriage before, but it had always been with the knowledge that it wasn’t legal in their state yet. “The tide’s turning pretty quickly, though,” Monty had told Miller during one of their late night discussions.

“Yeah, maybe.” Miller had mumbled sleepily, always the more pessimistic of the two.

But they’d been getting ready for work that morning when the news came over the wire. Miller could remember very clearly the way Monty had frozen in the middle of bringing his spoonful of cereal to his mouth, milk dribbling down onto the carpet in their living room. He’d been shocked himself, his tie halfway knotted. The words had just come flying out of his mouth:

“Let’s get married. You and me, today.”

The thing he’d always loved about Monty? He never missed a beat.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

* * *

 

Her Uncle Gustus had called her from Dallas that morning. Lexa had been trying to quietly retool a belt for her upcoming Fall line preview. “Have you heard?” He had practically shouted through the tinny speakers.

“Heard what?” She had sighed exasperatedly.

“The Supreme Court made marriage equality legal in the entire country, little bear!”

She had froze, pliers in hand, and stared at her phone where it laid flat against the table near her, barely daring to breathe.  _The entire country? But th—_

“Nyko and I are headed to the courthouse later. Sure the state could fight the ruling but at this point it’s unlikely to succeed so there should be plenty of places that will do the ceremony right away.” Her uncle sounded so exuberant and Lexa had laughed at him with tears in her eyes.

As if he knew the very contents of her thoughts, Gustus had quietened down. “Call us if you head there yourself.”

“I will. And congratulations.”

She’d wasted minutes sitting there, unsure what to do. Finally, she’d set her materials down and padded down the hallway to where Clarke slept, having gotten home at seven in the morning from her shift at the hospital. They’d whispered the vows to each other, last year. A simple ‘ _I marry you_ ’ three times from the both of them to make it real between them. But this? This would give them more rights under the law.

Clarke was face down on their bed, drooling onto Lexa’s pillow when she opened the door. Lexa was already giggling like a loon as she shook her partner awake. It took a while since Clarke had barely gotten any sleep and she was utterly disoriented as she blinked awake.

“God, what the fuck, Lexa?” was followed by “Clarke put your shoes on so I can marry you.”

Given the circumstances, Lexa could be forgiven for not having the most eloquent of proposals.

 

* * *

 

Finn had seen the news right before he started making his rounds at his veterinary clinic. There had been a moment where he had allowed himself to feel joy and he’d very nearly grabbed his phone and proposed to his boyfriend of four years. But he had stopped himself halfway to the #1 on speed-dial.  He loved Bellamy and he knew Bellamy loved him, but their relationship was often characterized by Bellamy’s difficulty with intimacy or living openly as a bisexual man.

Finn smiled and resolved to be happy for all the other people who would be able to make their dreams come true from this day on. As for him, Mrs. Webb’s border terrier hadn’t been eating for the past week and he needed to diagnose why.

He was handing off a file to Fox, his assistant, in the waiting room when the door chimed. He’d glanced towards it, then away before the image had registered in his brain.

“Bellamy? And Raven? And Octavia?” The three were standing in his waiting room. Bellamy had that constipated look he got whenever he was trying to be serious and authoritative. Finn knew that his boyfriend was supposed to be teaching a class on the Cold War right now. The enormous grin splitting Raven’s face was enough to give the plot away, but Finn was in the habit of not hoping.

“I’m an idiot.” Bellamy declared.

Edna Atkins, eighty years if she was a day, clutched her noisy Pomeranian to her bosom and watched the scene with undisguised interest. Even the Martinez family, father plus two young daughters, had frozen in place and were watching with wide eyes.

“I kind of already knew that, Bellamy,” Finn said slowly.

“I told him to say that,” Octavia clarified with an authoritative nod. Bellamy just rolled his eyes and sighed. But he focused on Finn again and tried to find the words.

“Look. I know I’m shit at this kind of stuff, but for some reason you stick with me even though I don’t treat you as well as I should. The point is, I think we should get married. Right now.”

His heart was pounding in his ears. Finn swallowed and tried to nod casually. “You think, huh?”

Bellamy’s surge of confidence visibly faded into uncertainty. “If you want.” He shrugged.

“Oh my!” Mrs. Atkins declared. Priscilla Martinez started bouncing up and down in front of him, shrieking: “Dr. Finn! Dr. Finn you HAVE to say yes! You just do!”

Giving Bellamy a bemused smile, Finn relented. “Well, how could I say no to that?”

He hoped the fluttering in his stomach that he got whenever Bellamy grinned at him like that, all of the sudden so boyish, would never go away.

 

* * *

 

 

They’d been close to the first to arrive at the courthouse, having called in sick at work. The line of couples were excited, but nervous that somehow it’d all turn against them. But the officials there were smiling and helping them make sure they filled out the forms correctly. Once they realized there were two women behind them who had been waiting over fifty years to be married, everyone agreed to let them move to the head of the line. It was only fitting that they be the first married in the county that day.

Monty was a ball of energy, smiling and then trying not to smile, bouncing one leg then the other before fidgeting with his nice button-down shirt and tie. Then Nathan’s warm hand was there, grasping his own and making it still. Monty turned and caught his groom watching him, those warm eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. Nathan always calmed him, always focused him.

Within an hour they stood before the Justice of the Peace, Vera Kane and took each other’s hands, facing one other. Plenty of straight couples spent tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding, on meals and invitations and flowers. Them? It was a gift so precious they’d take it in its simplest form. This was bigger than a moment, a single day.

“I, Monty Minjae Green, in the presence of these witnesses, do take you, Nathan, to be my lawful wedded husband to have and hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do us part.” He’s rarely ever seen Nathan cry, but there they were: tears in his eyes.

The rings had come from Nathan’s father. His mother had died years ago and while father and son often seemed to have a chasm in between them filled with all the things they just never could say to each other, there were times like this when it mattered most and they managed to come through. Monty had insisted that Miller call his father while he called his parents, Jasper (who was five feet away filming the whole thing), and his grandma in West Virginia. Mr. Miller had insisted they use his and Kristal’s rings.

“ _I’m proud of you, son_.”

Monty knew that was why Nathan looked so happy, so free in that moment.

“I, Nathan Fraser Miller, in the presence of these witnesses, do take you, Monty, to be my lawful wedded husband to have and hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do us part.”

Justice Kane smiled at the two of them and touched their arms as the weight of the rings settled on their fingers. “By joining hands, you are consenting to be bound together as husbands. You are promising to honor, love and support each other for the rest of your lives. By the authority vested in me by the laws of the state of Ohio, I now pronounce you husband and husband.”

Cheers from not only their friends, but all the other couples and their friends and family in attendance cemented the union. “Shiny,” Monty breathed.

Miller groaned from next to him as they made their way outside, Jasper exuberantly detailing the process of uploading the video to Twitter. “Alright, my browncoat, I’m taking you out to lunch. But then we’re ditching the third wheel so we can consummate this shit. I’m not taking my chances.”

 

* * *

 

Clarke had insisted they wait until they got properly dressed because she wanted to look nice in the pictures. Plus there would probably be news crews there to document the historic occasion. Which was why she was standing there in the bathroom, makeup strewn across the counter, arms shaking as she curled her hair. She was going to get married.  _Married_. She couldn’t even think, which was the point.

Once she woke up more fully and understood what Lexa was proposing, it’d been a gut reaction. Instinctual.

You grow up expecting your life to move in neater stages than they actually do. Her and Lexa had met at one of the messiest points of their lives. Lexa’s long-term relationship was imploding and Clarke was drowning in grief. They’d been drawn to each other even in the middle of it all. But maybe that was the point: you had no way of knowing what led to what. The things that had happened to them, both good and bad, could quite possibly have been the very things that made their love possible.

All Clarke knew was that she didn’t want to stop waking up to the sight of Lexa’s face. She didn’t want to come home and not see Lexa frowning as she bent metal to her will…then looked up to smile at Clarke. She was a storm, wild and willful; Lexa was an ocean, full of immense depth and the illusion of stillness.

Lexa pulled into the nearest Starbucks as if they weren’t on their way to get married and gotten her a Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato before they made their way to the courthouse. Clarke spent the next twenty minutes on the phone with her tearful mother, trying to get Abby to download Periscope and figure the app out so she could watch the ceremony live from Baltimore.

They didn’t even have rings.

Hair ties would have to do for today. The atmosphere in the courthouse was so full of tears and joy, it was infectious. Lexa was the more sentimental of the two and Clarke kept catching her bride staring at her and chewing on her lower lip.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she sighed before relenting. “Clarke, we can have a big wedding later. I want to give that to you, too—“

“Lexa. Everything I wanted, you already have given me.” And that was the truth.

They stood before Justice Kane, shoulder to shoulder rather than face to face. Left hands in right. “You are now joined to each other by love and respect, two qualities you must always remember, even when times are difficult. I wish you the best of luck in your marriage, and it is my honor to introduce Mrs. And Mrs. Griffin.”

No, there weren’t many guarantees in the world, but you started as you meant to go on.

 

* * *

 

There was suddenly a lot of things Bellamy wanted to say to Finn as they stood in the line at the courthouse. They watched couple after couple getting married, some their age, some near the end of their lives. All Bellamy could think about was how lucky he was. And he wanted to tell Finn that, but the imposing presence of his sister and Finn’s best friend inhibited him.

He’d learned how to hide at a young age, so his teachers wouldn’t call social services and screw things up for him and Octavia. That was one of the things that had first repelled him, then pulled him to Finn…the way the other man was so open and forward about who he was. He’d heard the news about the Supreme Court decision while he was in his office that morning. He’d gone to class with the idea ringing in his head so loudly he’d just stopped in the middle of his lecture and told them to scram because he was going to marry his boyfriend.

Frankly, he might be fired after today, even if he’d gotten a standing ovation from his students as he’d gathered his things up and left. Bellamy looked around the courthouse and realized he was surrounded by friends and curved an arm around Finn’s back. Leaning over, he whispered, “You make me brave.”

There were many ways to say ‘I love you’.

Finn wore his hair shorter these days even if he sported a light beard in rebellion of the professional norms of his career, but it was the same intent expression in those brown eyes that had always gotten Bellamy. “You can still back out of this, if you want,” Finn reminded him quietly.

He’d always understood Bellamy better than he could verbalize. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Finn gave him an inscrutable look. “Yeah, you are, aren’t you.”

From either side of them, Raven and Octavia snorted. “Did you call and ask them to come along?” Finn asked him. Bellamy sighed and shook his head as they moved up in the line.

“Nope, O called me practically as soon as the news broke—“

“Hey, nobody’s suffered more than Raven and I when it comes to dealing with you two finally getting over your dumb egos and admitting you were in love with each other. I had to make sure Bell did the right thing here.” Octavia piped up from next to him, texting someone. Lincoln, probably. Raven hummed in agreement from Finn’s side.

“No kidding. We’ve gotta make sure you two make honest men out of each other.”

Finn sighed with the bemusement he usually reserved for his oldest friend. “Well, we’re glad you two are here with us.” It’d always be Finn and Raven, just as it’d always be Bellamy and Octavia against the world. But now, Bellamy supposed, it’d be the four of them as a family and then some. Bellamy couldn’t stop watching the way his…his  _groom_  grinned as he read over the forms they’d filled out. He caught the precise moment Finn saw it.

“Bellamy Collins…really?” Finn stared up at him, eyebrow cocked. “You want to take my name?”

Bellamy shrugged as casually as possible. “It’s a good name. And besides Lincoln’s going to take O’s name, so…”

When they stood before Justice Kane, eye to eye, Finn politely interrupted her. “My mother’s Jewish, there’s something she said at my parent’s wedding that I’d like to say here for our vows, if you don’t mind.”

Vera waved them on. “Oh, that’s no problem! You go right ahead.” Just beyond Finn’s shoulder, Raven was filming the ceremony on her phone, tears streaking down her face. Bellamy knew his sister was behind him doing the same. But probably without the tears.

Finn clasped his hand, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles, and prompted Bellamy. “Just repeat after me, okay?”

Bellamy nodded, listening intently and he did his best to echo Finn’s words.

“ _I betroth you to me forever_ ;” “And I betroth you to me forever;”

“ _In righteousness and justice_ ,” “in righteousness and justice,”

“ _In love and in compassion_ ,” “in love and in compassion,”

“ _In everlasting faithfulness_ -” “in everlasting faithfulness-”

“ _And you shall know God_.”  “and you shall know God.”

Finn slid the ring—his maternal grandfather’s own—onto Bellamy’s finger. Bellamy did the same with the ring Octavia had handed him—they didn’t have much in the way of family legacy, so Octavia and several others had chipped in so she could buy one for them; something borrowed, something new. Finn then recited a line in Hebrew, which Bellamy recognized as the official vow that made this whole thing legal in Judaic law or something.

“ _Haray aht m’kudeshet li, b’taba’at zu, k’dat Moshe v’Yisrael_.  By this ring you are consecrated unto me, in accordance with the laws of Moses and Israel.” Bellamy didn’t have anything fancy to say in return, but Finn winked at him. “Don’t worry, only the husband has to say something to make it official.”

He could just  _hear_  Octavia cackling behind him.

Whatever Justice Kane said after that was drowned out by the strange ringing in Bellamy’s head as he realized that hey, he was  _married_  now. Finn was his husband. They were stuck together now. And then he had an armful of Finn and they were kissing and Bellamy didn’t think he’d ever felt this light, this contented.


End file.
